US makes contact with Iraqi insurgents

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The US embassy in Baghdad has held indirect talks with members
of violent Iraqi insurgent groups, edging back from a long-standing
position not to negotiate with "terrorists" or those who have
American or Iraqi blood on their hands.

"People stop shooting at us, and we - and I think the Iraqi
Government - are ready to engage," a US official said in Baghdad on
Wednesday.

The US is hoping to persuade Iraq's insurgents to lay down their
weapons and join the political process. But the insurgency is
thought to be comprised of diffuse groups of fighters, and it was
unclear how broad a section has been involved in the contacts with
the US.

On Tuesday a former minister in Iraq's interim government said
the leaders of two insurgent groups were prepared to discuss
conditions for ending their campaign of attacks.

Aiham Alsammarae, who was electricity minister under the former
prime minister Iyad Allawi, said the groups, which he identified as
the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Mujahideen Army, were willing to
enter negotiations with US and Iraqi officials.

Reports of meetings between figures associated with the
insurgency and US officials began emerging earlier this year, but
US authorities previously have declined to provide details.

US military commanders in war-torn swaths of Iraq have long sent
olive branches and ultimatums to militants through tribal and
religious leaders. A Pentagon official described those interactions
as informal and insubstantial.

"There has been some dialogue with these guys, but no
negotiations," the official said.

The talks confirmed by the official appeared to be more formal
contacts between insurgents and American diplomats, mainly using
Sunni Arab political and religious figures as intermediaries.

Abdul Salaam Kubaysi, a leader of the Muslim Scholars
Association, an influential Sunni Arab group, said he knew of at
least three instances where figures close to the insurgency had
approached the US embassy about the prospects of cutting a deal,
the latest about four days ago.

For months, Iraq's interim leaders have been in contact with
representatives of insurgent groups, trying to bring them into the
political process. But the new participation of the Americans in
such talks might help convince the guerillas that the negotiations
could have substantial results.

The discussions could indicate a new willingness on the part of
the guerillas to lay down their weapons.

■ In a move certain to further inflame sectarian tensions
with Sunni Arabs, Iraqi leaders said on Wednesday they strongly
supported the existence of an Iranian-trained Shiite militia known
as the Badr Organisation and praised the militia's role in trying
to secure the country.

It was the first time the new Iraqi Government has publicly
backed an armed group that was created along sectarian lines, and
it was an implicit rejection of repeated requests by American
officials that the Government disband all militias in the
country.

Meanwhile Sunni Arab leaders on Wednesday demanded double the
number of representatives on a parliamentary committee drafting the
new constitution, threatening to boycott the process if the
Shiite-dominated parliament did not meet their demand.